* Dozens missing as freak rain wash away homes
At least 19 people have been reportedly killed while dozen others were left missing after freak rain washed homes away in horrific flooding in the South West Germany.
Luxembourg Times also reports that six houses collapsed in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate in the worst incident in which dozens of people went missing.
About 25 more houses are threatened with collapse in the worst-affected area of Schuld bei Adenau in the hilly Eifel area, local broadcaster SWR reported, citing police sources.
The floods have been described as every 25 years, and have already seen how two firefighters drowned, and the army sent in an emergency evacuation of residents who found themselves in a difficult situation.
Heavy rain disrupted rail, road and river transport in Germany’s most populous region.
The city of Hagen in Rhine-Westphalia declared a state of emergency after the Volme River overflowed its banks.
The city’s crisis group warned that water levels would reach levels seen only four times a century in the coming hours and urged those who lived in houses by the river to move to the higher ground immediately, according to public broadcaster WDR.
TV footage and news photos from the scene showed dozens of floating cars in a flooded city and a powerful stream of water rushing through the streets.
The German Meteorological Service issued an extreme weather alert for three western states on Wednesday. Heavy downpours are expected to continue in southwestern Germany on Thursday. Continuous rain is expected until Friday evening.
“We usually only see this situation in winter,” said WDR Bernd Melig, an environmental officer in North Rhine-Westphalia, the worst-hit region. “Something like this with this intensity in the summer is completely unusual.”
Parts of Hagen have become inaccessible and isolated due to floods. Residents of Düsseldorf, a large business centre, were also asked to evacuate.
Police said two men, aged 77 and 82, died in their basements after flooding in the western cities of Kamen and Wuppertal.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, a dam is threatened as the water level has risen and authorities have sounded the alarm for residents whose homes could be damaged.
The threat also arises from another dam in several villages below the Steinbachtal reservoir and in the Rhine-Sieg district south of Cologne, from where the evacuation order was issued.
One of the firefighters died after he lost his foothold in flood waters and was washed away had to be evacuated from a nursing home in Hagen due to flooding of basements and some hospitals.
Four people have died in Ahrweiler County and about 50 people have remained trapped on their rooftops awaiting rescue after water flooded their homes, police in the western city of Koblenz said on Thursday.
Landslides have been reported in some locations, disrupting relief operations, and major highways flooded.
In the south and east of the country, many rail services have been stopped.
Neighboring Belgium was also hit by heavy rains that caused flash floods that killed at least two people.
In Liege, fears that by noon the Meuse River may overflow its banks and spill water into the city centre.
Late Wednesday evening, the Dutch government dispatched about 70 troops to the southern province of Limburg to evacuate and use sandbags to plug the banks of the river, which was on the verge of breaking through.
At least 11 districts in France are on orange alert due to flooding since Thursday, as an unusual storm poured heavy rains early in the summer season.
In the past one or two days, some areas have already had rain equivalent to two months of rain, according to the French National Meteorological Service.
And in Luxembourg, torrential rains led to flash floods in several parts of the country. About 100 sections of the road are now blocked, and the Alzette River has overflowed its banks. As of Thursday morning, emergency services have responded to 1,200 flood-related calls. Luxembourg Times.
